Hey guys! Just wanted to announce that one of the games I've been working on, ReRave, has finally been approved on the iPhone App market!
YouTube video:
App Store link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rerave/id417137196?mt=8&ls=1#

Hey folks!
I've been working on a rhythm game (in AS3) on and off for the past few months, and it's almost at a state where I'm gonna be pushing playable demos for playtesting. I know it's gonna be a little hard to get any serious feedback until the demo is up and running, but I figured I'd go ahead and share a video here, just to see if I could generate a little buzz. If anyone seems interested, I'll keep posting updates.

Howdy, folks! I'm currently working on the third game in my Flash rhythm series, and one of the features I'm developing is a public song editing tool. With it, players will be able to create their own playable songs from the ground up, then share them with other players: The game is still far from finished, but I've gotten the editing tools to the point where I'd like to let some people try them out. If you've got some time, feel free to check it out - especially if you're a fan of rhythm games! You'll need to be logged in to a MochiGames account to access the demo. You can connect with a one-click Facebook connect, no annoying registration or confirmation e-mails. :] http://www.trebl.com/3/editor_demo.html In particular, I'd love to hear some feedback about: Intuition / Interface: Do the editor tools make sense? If you got stuck somewhere, where was it? I plan on having a step-by-step video tutorial for users who want a detailed walkthrough, but I also want the editor tools to make some sense without any outside explanation. Granted, you guys are at a disadvantage because you're jumping straight into the editor without having played the game first, but I suppose that just makes this a better stress test. ;D Security: My programming experience is primarily in ActionScript, but this project has had me getting my hands dirty in PHP. I've done some basic security checks, but to be perfectly honest, I don't really have a lot of experience with this. At some point in time, I'd really like to find someone trustworthy to look over my code and point out any glaring security flaws, before someone else finds 'em. Bugs: If you run into any major problems, please let me know. The editor tools are functional if you play nice, but I haven't really gone through and tried to intentionally break it yet. If you're able to crash the app, let me know how you did it. :D Here are a handful of known issues: The playtest window is very rough, and the interface is far from finished. To exit the playtest, press ESC. There is currently no limit on how many songs you can create. There is not yet a legal page containing the terms of service. Some blocks of multi-line text will be displayed at an unusually small font size. The editor does not like to be open in more than one place. I'll be setting up a check to prevent multiple instances in a future build, but for now, don't run the editor in more than one window. ;D I've gone ahead and uploaded some test files that y'all can use for testing purposes, if you don't want to worry about making your own. Hopefully, these will help everyone get to the fun stuff a little more smoothly: - MP3: nes.mp3 - Slow-Motion MP3: nes_SLOW.mp3 - Preview MP3: nes_PREVIEW.mp3 - Album Art: nes.jpg To those of you who've already started working on songs - good on ya! Let me know how it goes. :D

Howdy, folks!
I'm currently in the early planning phases for TREBL3, the sequel to a Flash rhythm game I published a couple months ago. I'm really trying to take this series to the next level, and one of the biggest features I'd like to implement in the next game is support for user-generated content.
I do intend to contact my lawyer before too long, but I want to ask as many questions as I can ahead of time, so I know what questions I still need to ask before I shell out for an extra hour of consulting.
I have tried my best to adhere to intellectual property right laws with the TREBL series. It seems that today's Flash gaming scene is littered with an utter disrespect for copyright law, and I don't want to reflect that image. Most of the music I have used up to this point is Creative Commons - BY licensed. The rest has either been licensed through sites like Jamendo/Pond5, or used with explicit permission from the artist.
I know that I will not be able to maintain this same level of legal quality when I open the game up to user-submitted content. I do want to protect myself as much as I can, though, and I have done a lot of research on the topic (fortunately for me, there are plenty of other people curious about the same thing all over the internet).
Temero's guide is one of the most concise lists of recommendations I have found (although their grammar leaves much to be desired):
Quote:-If wanting to use content submitted by users it's best to have lawyers create your Terms of Use.
-Ensure users accept the terms and know they have done so - having to tick a checkbox or some other action before they can load creative content.
-If you plan to re-use or distribute user's own creative content, make sure they know the details of the licence and agree to it first - for example, if running a photo competition.
-Act promptly to take down any potentially infringing material as soon as you hear about it.
-Take care when using content under Creative Commons - it's not a license to use everything for free.
Currently, the game loads all of its songs from a remote server - my server. An XML playlist containing these songs is also loaded from my server (the URL for this playlist is hard-coded into the game).
I have considered a couple of ways to support user-created content. The simplest (but perhaps the most costly, legally risky, and time-consuming) method is to let users submit the required materials (an MP3 song file, a low-quality preview MP3 file, an album art JPG, and an XML note file), and I will host them on my servers, and update the songlist XML. This could all be automated.
The second method I had considered is to let the players browse from a list of servers, each of which will host their own playlists and song files. The only thing I would need to do is add new servers to the server list (and again, this could probably be automated), and then each server would manage their own songs.
From a gameplay design point-of-view, the first option is vastly superior. In addition to making it easier for individuals to submit content, having everything stored centrally makes it easier to manage and allows the users to see everything all at once, without having to dig around through several servers to find a song they want to play.
My question is: does having the content stored on my machines expose me to more of a legal risk than simply referencing files stored on other servers by other people, or am I exposed to the same legal responsibilities either way? Also, aside from the responsibilities outlined earlier, are there any other pertinent legal obligations I should be aware of?
Thanks in advance for the help. I'm really looking forward to expanding the TREBL series, and I want to make sure I'm doing things by the book. :]

Howdy, folks!
Some of you might remember the Flash rhythm game I did for my capstone this past spring. I've been working on the sequel for the past couple of weeks, and it's finally ready to rock!
Check it out and let me know what you think, yeah? :D

$500 is a perfectly reasonable amount to ask for even barebone web games, and this one is moderately well conceived. I, honestly, would have opened the bid a little higher. I'm sure he'll find a taker if he looks in the right places, although I'm not sure this is necessarily the best place to look.

Solid game! As esrix mentioned, I think a "falling" animation would do a world a good for this, and adding symbols would also help tremendously (not just for colorblind users, but to give it a nice touch for all players). If you're in the mood for a graphic touchup, you know where to look! (Hint: down.)

Nice site, plenty of good music! I've added you guys to my little black book of music licensing sites. ;D Also, for everyone else's convenience, a clicky link: http://www.massivetracks.net/ If I could offer one suggestion, it would be nice for songs to stop playing when I start playing a new song. When I scroll down to look for more songs, I leave the previous song playing to keep listening to it, but when I start playing the new song, it's a hassle to scroll back up and try to find the song that's currently playing.

Played it, loved it. Found a bug, though: You can walk through "weak corners" diagonally (see my awesome diagram below) by just cramming yourself up into the corner and "forcing" yourself through. Collision detection glitch?

(Not strictly game-related, but I'm fishing for just about any help I can get, right now!)
Having recently graduated with a degree in graphic/web design, I'm doing what a lot of other job-seekers are doing right now: freelance work (and a crummy part-time job) to tide me over until I can find a stable paycheck somewhere.
At first, it was just small graphic design gigs for a few bucks here and there, but I've started taking on bigger jobs for bigger pay, utilizing freelance lead sites like DesignQuote and LimeExchange to find bigger, better paying projects. I've been keeping a pretty steadily increasing pace for a few weeks, now, with a few followup contracts and return clients. Nothing quite as reliable as a full time job would be, but enough that I'd really like to invest in this venture until I find something more stable.
I'm pretty new to this whole self-employment thing, and I know that no matter how realistic I try to be about it, I'm going to end up being a little overzealous, a little too eager to get going, which is why I'm trying to clarify some things before I dive too far in.
I'm vaguely aware of self-employment laws and regulations. "Vaguely" in the sense that I'm keeping close records of all of my expenses and revenue, knowing that I'll need to report them on my taxes (USA). "Vaguely" in the sense that I've sent in my registration for an LLC so I can be protected should something go wrong. And "vaguely" in the sense that I'm using contracts at every turn to make sure that everything I do is in black-and-white, somewhere.
Beyond that, though, I have a lot of questions. Some of them are pretty cut and dry, like... How and when do I need to file my taxes as a self-proprietor? Others are very specific to my situation, like... can I rely on freelancing to tide me over without the crummy part time job, or is there something that the part time job is offering me that I should stick around for?
Many of these questions are beyond the scope of what I expect can be answered here, but I'm not quite sure who to ask, and I figured some of you may have been through this before. Should I be talking to a lawyer? A financial consultant? A tax firm? Other self-employed people?
Any help that anyone is willing to offer is sincerely appreciated, even if all you can do is tell me who I should be setting up an appointment with. The last thing I want to do is make a vital mistake early in my career, so I'm trying to figure out as much of it as I can.